Saturday, March 19, 2011

How To Get Pink Hair on a Budget

Hair Dye (I recommend Special Effects. It's pretty much the only one that really lasts. See their website for list of colors! [I order them online because it's too hard to find in stores]

Plastic gloves

Several plastic bags (to cover counter and head, see below for details)

Ugly hair band and bobby-pins

The long-awaited post is here! I ask everyone I meet with funky hair colors what brand they use (I'm always trying to figure out new and better options), and every single person thus far has gotten their pink and blue hair done at salons! Which I understand, because it is a little bit of a pain in the butt to figure out on your own, but let my years of learning (and the occasional hair-frying) be to your benefit! I've tried almost every brand, tons of colors, different bleaching processes, and I finally, after six years, have it down to an art. And it's far cheaper than a $60+ salon appointment every couple months!

Step one: choose the section of hair you want colored. I have wicked thick hair and learned the hard way that it's too tiring and takes too much product to do the whole head, so I only dye the front portion. Pull the rest of the hair back so that only that portion is exposed. Then I just use the $10 extra bleach blonde hair dye kit from any store (seriously, all that specialty blend bleaching crap from like Sally's or a professional hair place is hard to use, and doesn't work as well!).It's Heather the Hair Monster :) I'm just dyeing my roots, hence only that part is getting bleached.

I'm too lazy to do it all in one night, so I just walk around with partially bleached hair for a day or two. But I have done it all in a night before, I just get tired out from all the hair washing after each process :)

Sooooooo, the next night, I continue. Very important: SpecialEffects Hair Dye is THE BEST. The problem with funky hair-colors is that it is impossibly hard to find one that LASTS! Drives me bananas, and I've spent years trying to nail down a way to get blue and/or pink hair permanently. I've tried Manic Panic, RAW, Splat!, Punky Color, and they all fade in a ridiculously short time. Like, 'oh look, my hair is so pretty and aquamarine!' and then three days later it is puke green. Seriously. I have tried and tried and tried! Even with Special Effects, certain colors work better than others. For instance, ATOMIC PINK stays forever. You'll see this attested to across the web. It's the reason that, even though pink doesn't always go with my skin tone, I keep the majority of my hair pink. It stays vibrant like you'd never believe, easily lasting two months and then only a re-dye is necessary because the roots are showing. But since I don't love pink all over, I've also found a blue that isn't bad: ELECTRIC BLUE, also by Special Effects, natch. So, onto the fun part of the dye process!

Yes, that is a self-made unicorn bangs-ponytail. But since I'm doing two colors at once, certain ridiculousness's are necessary. Yet, it gets even sexier. I pin up the long parts with bobby-pins and then cover it with a plastic grocery bag and secure it with a head-band type thing.

SO. When you get one of the organic hair dyes like Special Effects, the secret to getting lasting color is leaving it on for several hours. It won't fry or F-up your hair. Some people leave it on overnight, but that can get messy I figure, so I just leave it on for four hours. I know this sounds nutz, but it's fine for your hair (at least in my experience, and other people around the webs). And all for a good cause--pretty, pretty blue and pink hair that lasts and stays vibrant :) :) :)

IMPORTANT FINAL NOTE: this crap will dye everything in your life from your counter to your bathtub to your pillows. Be diligent in covering your counter w/ plastic bags! And wash out the hair dye in your kitchen STAINLESS STEEL SINK. They call it stainless for a reason, kids, and if you don't want a pink/blue bathtub, make sure to wash it out for a long time, go ahead and shampoo it once and maybe condition as well while you're at the sink. Also, you may want to use an old/ugly towel, because it will turn pink/blue too. BUT! I've found as long as I wash it out thoroughly, I don't end up with pink/blue pillows anymore. Ftw!

Hmm, let's see, what else. Oh, right! To keep the color lasting, it's important not to wash it with too-hot water. This is a small bummer for me, b/c I love my showers super-hot, but I just turn down the temperature when I wash and rinse my hair, then crank it back up again. It sucks a bit, but it really does affect the vibrancy--and for someone like me who wants to go through this process as rarely as possible, I'll do what it takes to make it last! And last but not least: conditioner. You need to embrace conditioner if you're going to have cool hair, and the occasional deep condition, but this is true of even regular hair dye colors. With all of these tips, I've managed to get long-lasting color, cheaply, and without frying the hell out of my hair! If you have any questions about anything I haven't covered, feel free to leave a question in the comments!!! Happy hair-dyeing everyone!

ashley shut the f up she did a good job im getting ready to do a client and her hair is zlready light blonde therefore im not goin to do bleach process i hope her pink turns out as nice as yours...... thanks for your color blog!!!